


You're doing great

by Sukie_Kagamine



Category: Tenet (2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Comfort No Hurt, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29024199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sukie_Kagamine/pseuds/Sukie_Kagamine
Summary: "Hey, relax." The low voice of the examiner made him jump. They weren't allowed to talk in the examination apart from the confirmation of the student's name. Neil looked at him, eyes still wide in panic."Pardon?" He said, breathless, and the examiner continued."You don't have to worry so much, you're doing great."
Relationships: Neil/The Protagonist (Tenet)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	You're doing great

Sometimes, Neil wasn't sure if he made the right decision to sign up in a medical school. Well, of course, he knew that he appreciated life and he loved helping people and there was nothing that fascinated him more than the science of the human body. He had always wished to become a doctor, and he knew it was his destiny. 

But in times like this, he just really, really wanted to drop out of school.

He was just a first year student who had zero experience and could barely do anything impressive, and one of the most terrifying things that he would have to face tomorrow was the first OSCE exam. It was a new concept to him, and could potentially be his nightmare.

So OSCE stood for Objective Structured Clinical Examination, which was created solely for medical schools. His next exam contained 3 different "stations", it was like three challenges that the students had to get past. In each station, there would be a model of a human that acted as a patient with all the necessary tools and facilities the examinee needed to perform a particular skill, and an examiner sitting in the corner to watch and mark their process. Now Neil had no idea what each station would ask him to do, but he only had 5 minutes to fully finish everything, and it terrified him. 

Neil and his classmates had already learned an array of different techniques that could appear in the exam, and in the last week, he had been drilling himself to master all of them in the limited time. Most of his friends spent time practicing from long before, but Neil had been ill for three weeks now, and even though he tried extremely hard, he felt like he was still left behind. In fact, he was sitting in his dorm room holding a needle and had been injecting his pillow for three hours now. His head was pounding, throat sore and nose blocked. The pills he took didn't have much effect as he kept staying up all the time to try to force himself to remember the steps, and what an irony it was, a medical student getting sick for weeks on end and had no idea how to get better.

Normally, Neil was proud of his intelligence and quick thinking compared to his classmates. He only needed half of the time to understand and memorize the knowledge that his friends took to be at the same level as him. But these practical skills could only be improved by really doing them, fixing the mistakes, and repeating over and over until the muscle memories formed, so turned out, his fast memory was quite useless in this scenario. He would have to inject people with medicine in various spots on their bodies, cleaning their wounds, removing their sutures, inserting feeding tubes, and so many other things.

And on top of the illnesses, he was afraid. Neil had never been the one to withstand pressure very well. And having to do everything in that deadly quiet room with only 5 minutes and a pair of judgemental eyes staring was not something easy for him.

"Alright, alright, sleep." Ives got up from the top of his bunk bed, clearly annoyed by Neil's mumbling of the injecting process. He checked on the time and immediately jumped down. "It's in the middle of the damn night, you're not changing anything now, sleep."

"But I haven't covered anything yet." Neil said, and the exhaustion in his voice made himself cringe. "I have to finish this."

"You sound like you're about to spread diseases to the whole class tomorrow." Ives rolled his eyes as he snatched the syringe from Neil's hand and started to throw all of the tools into the box at the foot of the bed. "Get some sleep. My girlfriend's been worrying enough about you."

"Oh, are you jealous that Wheeler bought me chicken soup and pills and cares about me when I'm ill?" Neil grinned, trying to take back the syringe but to no avail. Ives was a lot stronger than him, and the other one already set his mind on pushing him to bed.

"She only does that because you're an idiot that can't take care of yourself." Ives grumbled, held Neil still on the bed while tucking him in with the blankets to make sure he didn't escape.

"Has she ever done that for you, I wonder?" Neil had to be in a delirious state to dare to poke the grizzly bear like that. Well, in normal occasions, Ives would definitely make him regret asking that, but now Neil was burning up with a fever. Ives knew his girlfriend had a point, worrying for this idiot. Neil still tried to get back up to study, and he rolled his eyes.

"Stop whining. Try to get some sleep now." He would get up to check on Neil a few times to make sure the medicine he just took before worked. God, Neil had to thank him for this a million times.

Finally, after some thrashing, Neil succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep. Ives turned off the light and climbed back onto his bed, hoping that Neil would be in the right condition for the exam tomorrow. 

.

.

.

Neil opened his eyes as he felt Ives punching his shoulders and called his name repeatedly. "Get up! Neil! We're having an exam today!"

The word exam was like the password that immediately turned on his consciousness and he bolted up from the bed, scrambling to get some decent clothes on. Ives was already dressed and prepared, waiting for him at the door with Wheeler standing next to him.

"Hi, Wheels." Neil nodded to her as he raced to the bathroom to wash his face. He looked into the mirror as he brushed his teeth, thanking God that he already felt so much better than yesterday. Obviously the chicken soup, the pills and some proper sleep had their effects on him. He hadn't fully recovered, but the soreness in his entire body was numbed down and the energy of life was slowly taking over. He changed into some clean clothes and got out to pick up his backpack.

"How are you feeling, Neil?" Ives asked as he saw Neil coming out of the bathroom, and he got a big smile in return.

"Amazing. So much better." 

"Here's your breakfast and meds." Wheeler stopped him at the door, and he was about to refuse, but then Ives glared at him from behind her back and he reluctantly accepted.

"You don't have to do this, really. I don't usually have breakfasts."

"That's why you've been sick for weeks now." She shook her head as she kissed Ives on his cheek. "We have to do something about it."

Neil stared down at the tupperware, looking at the homemade assemble of Egg Benedict inside, along with a few small pills. She must have just cooked this, because he could still feel the warmth radiating out of the glass.

"It's…" He looked at her and sighed. "Thank you. I don't know what to say."

"Well, I made Ives the same thing, so you two can finish it on the subway and do great in your exam." She gave him a gentle hug. "Try your best. I'm counting on you two."

Turned out her group wasn't having this exam today, so she would soon go back to her bed for another hour of sleeping while the two of them walked into the maze of nightmares. Neil and Ives said goodbye to her as they quickly got to the subway, and Ives recited all of the steps they had to follow in order to do the techniques the exam asked them to do, while both of them ate their breakfast. And everytime Ives opened his mouth, Neil knew he was closer to doom. 

"What? We have to do that too?" He stared at Ives in disbelief as Ives said they had to tie a tourniquet around the patient's arm, and got a shove.

"Seriously, what the hell's in your skull right now?"

He didn't. Remember. A thing. Nothing, absolutely nothing about whatever he studied in the last few days remained in his brain, and he started to freak out. Fuck. Fuck. He had no idea why all of his memories decided to leave him, but he mustered all he got to try to learn some basic outlines on the subway. He had Ives recapped all of the techniques to him, and tried to memorize them all despite his friend's eyeroll. 

They arrived in the OSCE building right on time, and Neil felt like he was dying little by little.

"Fuck, Ives, I'm so going to fail this." He mumbled under his breath as they changed into their scrubs and everything. His heart sounded like thunderclaps in his chest, but his blood ran cold as he swallowed the invisible lump in his throat. Around him, other students were also frantically running around, but he bet at least they knew what they had to do. There's no one else as horrible and oblivious as him today.

"It's mostly muscle memory. You've practiced enough, just let your instinct do the job." Ives told him, patting his back. "Don't let your nerves stop you."

Neil nodded, feeling himself trembling slightly. He hated feeling this helpless before an exam. He rarely went into any tests or exams this underprepared and horrified. 

A teacher called them into the waiting room, and the medical students swarmed inside while chattering nervously. Some classmates greeted them and asked Neil if he felt better. He just smiled at them and pretended that he was in total control. They sat through another half an hour of instructions, taking their numbers, and the first twelve students went inside. 

The exam floor looked like a maze to Neil's mind, with corridors leading to different stations in a series of colors, making it even worse. When the bell rang, they all rushed into the maze as if their lives depended on it, stopped in front of a room with the commands stuck on the outside, read for 1 minute, and then when the bell rang again, their 5 minutes started. Neil wasn't on the top of the list, so he had to sit and waited for his turn. The feeling was horrible, like waiting before being executed or something. Everyone was quiet, only some whispered to each other the random things about the exam as they suddenly remembered then, and Neil took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. The room slowly got emptier and emptier as the students left to attend the exam, and when Ives was gone, Neil braced himself for what's to come. Well, having an A or B wasn't on the menu right now. But maybe he could still pass. Yes, he just needed to pass this.

And then his number was called, and he stood up, cold sweat running down his temple. Three, two, one, ring.

Neil ran inside, along with two other ones in his group, and stopped in front of a station with his group's color. He read the commands as his heart dropped. This was the technique that he remembered the least - injecting insulin to a diabetic patient, they asked. He let out a quiet groan, and then the bell rang, and he threw himself at the door to get it open.

Inside, there was a bed with a fake patient sitting on it, and Neil saw the examiner in the corner, writing something on his papers.

"Neil Harper, number 43." He said, didn't notice how trembling his voice was. The examiner looked up from his desk, and Neil bolted to his spot as the man wrote down his number.

"Alright, you can get started." He said, but Neil was far too caught up in his own thoughts.

He ran to the patient, and did the first thing that he remembered: greet them, reconfirming their information, ask them some questions to identify their state, and then finally get to the needle and syringe stuff. But when he turned to the utility cart to get to the "prepare the tools" part, he went stuck. He forgot what he needed to do exactly. Get cotton balls? Opening the syringe packaging? Or opening the medicine first? Neil's heart was banging against his ribcage as his throat tightened. He had to do something, every second was precious and he was just standing there, not knowing what to do. 

Neil had no idea how much time he lost there, but eventually he just went with it, did whatever he faintly remembered was right. He was doomed, he knew it. Fuck. Every sound of the examiner's pen on his paper made Neil's insides churned - the professor was probably marking his horrible process with anger. 

Neil got some liquid medicines into the syringe and turned around to clean the patient's arm with his alcohol-soaked cotton ball. He could see his hand shaking, but he held his breath and went on with it, praying that he would get past this. It was the last preparation step. Now was the real action.

Neil held the syringe close to the model's arm, getting the right angle, but the more he tried to steel himself, the more he could see the trembling of his own hands, which affected the accuracy of the needle, preventing him from doing it right. Good God, was the only thought in his head right now, If I'm so horrible at such a basic technique, how on Earth am I gonna be an average doctor one day, much less a good one? And he could feel the eyes of the examiner piercing into him, tearing his lousy skills apart. He couldn't stop his hand from quivering.

"Hey, relax." The low voice of the examiner made him jump. They weren't allowed to talk in the examination apart from the confirmation of the student's name. Neil looked at him, eyes still wide in panic.

"Pardon?" He said, breathless, and the examiner continued.

"You don't have to worry so much, you're doing great." 

Neil had never seen this professor on the campus before. He wasn't much of a social person, but he did look up on the professors who would teach his class, and he knew nothing about this man. He wasn't as old as most doctors, though, he looked like he was in his late twenties, with dark skin, neat hair and a beard. And on top of that, he had extremely warm and calming eyes. The professor smiled at Neil.

"You still have enough time. No need to freak out, just do your best. You are excellent at this." He said gently, eyes sparkling with warmth.

Neil just wanted to cry right there. He was lying! "I'm screwing everything up."

"Not if you can calm down and believe more in yourself." He looked into Neil's eyes, voice soft and soothing, but firm and encouraging. "You can do this, Neil. I know you can. Do you?"

Neil bit his lip as he took in a deep breath, and looked down at his model patient again. He tried again with the syringe, and this time he let the man's voice guide him. Calm down. Believe more in yourself. And his hand became so much steadier after that. 

Neil repeated the words in his head over and over as he continued the process, and right after he finished the last step he could remember, the bell rang.

"Just leave everything there. I'll clean up for you." The other man nodded at him. "Go, get to the next station. And remember what I said. Good luck, Neil."

Neil was breathing heavily now as one burden was lifted off his chest, and a wave of energy and strength rose inside him. He nodded to the examiner, whispering a thank you and then continued to run to the next station, hands balled into fists. 

He did so much better after that. It was like the comforting and encouraging words coming from that examiner gave him the strength and confidence he needed, and he stopped being so afraid. The memories of his reviews started to come back to him, and he did all of the techniques with ease. You can do it. You're doing a great job. It's been a while since heard such truthful and honest encouragement, the man sounded like he truly believed in Neil. If a professor told me I was doing a great job, I must have done it pretty well. 

So he marched into the next stations with his head high, with his hands steady and skillful and fast, and his heart still beat thunderously inside his chest, but with determination and excitement. And he saw the faint smiles upon the other examiners' faces. He knew deep down that he did amazingly.

"How did it go?" Ives asked as he got out of the building, and Neil couldn’t help but grin.

“It’s great! I can’t believe I could do half of that.” He was so over the moon he had to try so hard not to jump up and down. “How about you?”

“I’m cool too.” Ives put his arm around Neil’s shoulders as they walked towards the subway station. Around them, the students were walking in groups, some obviously had just taken the exam just like them and were arguing heatedly about it. But they developed a habit of not talking too much about the exam with other people, hence saved the arguments. “You didn’t seem fine when we got in, what changed?”

“I… Well, there was an examiner. He was… really nice to me.” Neil bit his lip. “I was really nervous at first, but he encouraged me.”

“I thought they weren’t allowed to talk to us?” Ives raised an eyebrow, and Neil shrugged.

“I think he broke the rules to help me calm down a little. That’s why I said he’s so nice. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably fail a thousand times over. At least now I have some hope.”

“What’s his name? Have we met him before?”

“No, I’ve never seen him.” Neil shook his head. “He’s quite young, handsome, muscular, wears a tailored suit and he’s really gentle. I... don’t see a lot of professors like him.”

“Or maybe you haven’t seen a lot of professors as hot as him.” Ives deadpanned, and Neil punched his shoulder. “You sound awfully fascinated.”

“He saved my grade! That equals saving my life. You would have done the same thing if he's the one helping you." Neil rolled his eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but his cheeks heated up a little. 

"Aw, what an angel. Breaking the rules to save Neil. You must be special." Ives laughed out loud, and Neil stomped into the train with his ears bright red, leaving him behind.

.

.

.

The whole student body of the department was gathering in a large crowd around the board in front of the entrance hall. It was 2021, but obviously the school preferred letting them shoving each other to death to get their results rather than just sending them through emails. 

A few moments ago, there was an announcement that the results of last week's OSCE had been up on the bulletin board in the entrance hall, and just like Neil thought, the students swarmed in like bees, crawling on each other to know their marks first. Ives and Wheeler said they weren't big fans of squeezing themselves into a crowd to know their results a few hours earlier than their friends, so they stayed at the dorm waiting for everyone to leave before coming. Neil usually did the same thing, but this time was different - this time he really was worried about his grade - and he just couldn't wait any longer.

He went to school in a hurry, but when he came, there were already hundreds of people there. Neil decided to just get in and make his way through slowly. It was hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, but Neil's insides burned to know the results. If he failed and had to take this subject again… Just the thought of it made Neil shiver.

He moved slowly through the crowd, very slowly, but still had some progress, and finally after about an hour, he finally made it to the board. Neil quickly searched for his name, and after a while of looking, he found it. And he couldn't believe in his eyes.

B+. He got a B+. He didn't just pass, he did it with a B+! It was unreal!

Neil went out with his heart soaring, grinning like an idiot. For his straight As record, anything like a B would ruin everything, but just the other day he would be worried of getting an F. Now a B was already heaven to him. Now he didn't mind all the people pushing and squeezing in against him anymore, he simply floated out of the crowd, humming a happy tune.

When Neil finally reached the open air, he immediately pulled out his phone to call Ives. Two rings later, he picked up, and Neil squealed into the phone before Ives could say anything.

"I GOT A B+! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" He started to giggle uncontrollably despite people's weird look, and Ives laughed with him.

"Why aren't you weeping on the floor? You always get As!"

"Come on, man, this is more than I can imagine." Neil shook his head. "I'd never expect more than a D, really."

"Oh, right, but thanks to the mysterious knight that came in a swoop you off your feet, somehow you--"

"You got an A. Congratulations. Sleep on it." Neil rolled his eyes and ended the call, cheeks getting pinkish from what Ives had just teased him. God, he hated being teased like he was a child having a girlfriend or boyfriend for the first time in their life. But he couldn't help it. Blushing uncontrollably whenever they mentioned that man was something Neil desperately tried to prevent to no avail. It's just--his stupid crush was getting worse and worse.

"So, are you satisfied with a B+?" Someone called him from behind, and he turned around. Oh. Fuck.

"Um… Hi." He stuttered, heart speeding up dizzily. It was him. "I'm… It's… It's great."

"I'm glad to hear that." He looked gorgeous. Neil always knew he was, but the examination was too stressful for him to care enough about appreciating this man's good look. Under the sparkling aura of a B+, this was the most godly attractive man Neil's ever seen. And his voice was just as low and warm and comforting as the other day.

"You gave me a B+, didn't you?" Neil could finally open his mouth again. His hands were again, shaking with nerves, but with a whole different reason.

"Isn't it obvious? I was the examiner." The man smiled, and that damned sunny smile would someday give Neil a cardiac arrest. "I just happened to pass by, and I heard you screaming about your B+, so I just wanted to come in and check."

"Oh. I…" He mumbled, gaze turning away. "It's unbelievable. In a good way, I mean. I can't imagine having a result like that."

"Tell me why you think so." The man tilted his head a little, seeming surprised, and Neil sighed.

"I mean, you saw how panicked I was in there. I almost messed up everything."

"But you didn't. You did great." He kept on with his encouragement, and Neil wanted to have some ice for his burning cheeks.

"Only after you told me that." He said, lowered his voice so other people wouldn't hear them. "If you didn't do anything, I'd still be terrified and mess up everything after that."

"Were you always that nervous when you sit an exam?" The man asked, dark brown eyes full of curiosity. And care.

Neil shook his head rigidly. "No. No. But the week before I got ill really bad, so I barely had time to study. And that was the first practical skill examination I've ever had in college, it's like my head short circuited or something."

"How are you feeling now?" He stepped closer, eyes suddenly worried. "Have you gotten better?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay now." Neil nodded, hands twisted each other nervously behind his back. Butterflies were swarming in his stomach.

"Your performance in there was definitely a B+, but if you were more well prepared, I don't see why you won't get an A+ in other exams. Your record said you're brilliant."

"Thank you." Neil mumbled, he was sure that the man could see smoke coming from his face. Would he please stop with the praises and encouragements? "I… I promise I'd do better."

"Don't sound so upset. It's just a small exam." The man chuckled, and Neil squeezed his eyes shut. Oh come on. He took in a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes, he finally burst out the thought that had been haunting his mind all the time.

"Can we go out for coffee some time? Just the two of us." His words were coming out so fast they all jumbled together, but the professor still understood. And he smiled.

"Sure. Can I put my number in your phone? It's easier for us to contact that way."

Neil's brain still hadn't really processed the reality of his situation. It took him another few seconds to stare at the man with disbelief before the information finally kicked in and he quickly held out his phone, fingers trembling from nerves.

"Hey, relax." The man smiled, typing his number into the phone with ease. "You don't have to worry so much, you're doing great."

He gave Neil his phone back after finishing, and said his goodbye as he left for some business that professors had to attend. Neil looked at his phone, grinning like an idiot. The man's name was David. David Wilson, with a lot of heart emojis.


End file.
